grass carp and koi

[koifishgirl]

Is there any difference in the grass carp and the koi? Will they spawn and has anyone ever tried? I caught a huge green grass carp yesterday and I wish I had a camera the fish was beautiful, the matsuba scales are out of this world on these carp and I wanted to bring it home with me, the only thing is they will not reproduce because they do something to them so they wont spawn.
I wonder what would happen if your crossed this type of carp with a colored koi, this carp was big and I mean really big. They have some that look like whales, I would say at least 36 or 37 inches I am not sure as I have not caught the biggest of the carp they may even be a lot bigger, I cant really judge size in the water but I know they are big and to big to bring in with normal fishing line. The only reason I was able to get this carp in is for some reason he did not put up a fight, if he had the brime hook that I caught him on would have been straight as the fishing line, by the way, the line was old and almost rotton, just luck that I had the chance to bring this beauty in so I could look at him. I am sure most of you have had a chance to see one of these beauty' but really would like to know if anyone has tried to cross on of these with a good colored koi and what did they come up with.

[luke frisbee]

it is done in the making of the grass carp...they got triploid genes. having too many genes makes em sterile....they are like mules...No babies even if bred back to a horse

[kingkong]

Wow, that sounds exciting. Check out http://www.carpuniverse.com/
Does that grass carp look like your catch?

[Fishbreeder]

Even if you got normal "diploid" grass carp you couldn't cross breed them to koi.

Grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella) are too far phylogenitically removed from common carp-koi (Cyprinus carpio) to have viable offspring.

Many cyprinids (includes all minnows and carps) have been hybridized for many reasons.

A 36 inch grass carp isn;t that big. We've got them over four feet. An even bigger carp is the bighead carp (Aristichthyes nobilis) I've captured specimens over 50 inches and weighing nearly 100 pounds.

There are even bigger cyprinids including such giants as Catla catla, reaching a couple of hundred pounds.

[koifishgirl]

This carp that I caught was in a small catfish pond. The other carp look as big as I am. My son caught one and was able to wear him down to get him to the banks but with a slight touch of the net he broke the line, snap and he was gone.

Its a shame you cant cross the fish with the koi as I was really amazed at how beautifull they are. The matsuba pattern was perfect, like you had took a pen and drawed the lines in, deep black on a beautiful sliver green color. The shine on this fish was like what you would see on a good brime. It was really nice.

Thanks guys as I thought maybe someone had allready tried this and could give me some info. wouldn't it be nice if you could? A koi that could grow to that size, and these carp are so graceful, we watch them all the time skimming the top of the ponds and can walk up very close to these fish and they will not swim off like most do. Although you walk up to fast and they are just like any other, the water roles and they are gone.

Yep that looks just like the one I caught expect its head was no where near as dark as this carp, it was a light green color. Im going to check back to the web site and see if there are more pics. Are they not beautiful?

Judy

[bekko]

Hawaii is heavy into controlling exotic species and such right now. Therefore, I was really surprised to find out that you can import normal diploid grass carp for weed control. Guess they're more worried about the aquatic weeds getting out of control than the carp.

-steve

[koifishgirl]

Steve, the grass carp will not reproduce so there is not problem with haveing them. I wish they would as they are very beautiful fish. We have had the grass carp in the mud ponds for years and not one fry. The big grass carp in the largest mud ponds have been there for many years and you cant get one in if you catch it, they are way to big.

I wanted a friend of mine to bring me some of the carp from the back waters here and he has not been able to catch one yet. I want to see what they look like and who knows, they maybe the same as the ones that we stocked the lakes with and are not able to reproduce, since this back waters come out of the river I am thinking they will be wild carp. I thought it would be fun to spawn a pair and see what I come up with. You may not even be able to spawn the two together, I dont know.

[bekko]

The grass carp in Georgia were treated with high pressure as eggs to make them sterile. The wild common carp there are fertile. I never caught a common carp, but shot a big one from the bank of a river 20 years ago. Beautiful golden color. Tried to eat it, but it was really nasty. The free book chapter in the link KingKong provided is funny.

-steve